Chapter 315: Seventy Ghosts

Ronan crouched low in the brush, muscles tight, breath measured, straining to see through the fog blanketing the forest around the fortress. Shadows from the trees stretched across the damp ground, and every snapping twig seemed louder than it had any right to be. All around him, the group stayed hidden, waiting for the moment to strike.

He still couldn’t quite believe what Luke had promised. It wasn’t just the audacity of sneaking into the fortress alone; it was the absolute conviction with which he’d said he could kill seventy people without raising the alarm. Ronan didn’t doubt his skills, he’d seen plenty, but the calm, almost casual way the man talked about slaughter made his skin crawl.

With Kruger or Marshall, madness was obvious. They laughed, screamed, reveled in the twisted pleasure of chaos. Luke was different. He spoke little, moved fast, and seemed distant. His indifference was cold, almost inhuman, and it set Ronan’s nerves on edge. Whenever Luke told old stories, violent memories paired with a faint, private smile, Ronan felt a chill he couldn’t explain.

He’d fought Luke once. Calling it a fight was generous; it had been a massacre. Luke had charged thirty men in under a minute and walked away with an arrow still lodged in his chest. The scene was so unreal that veteran soldiers still trembled when they spoke of it. Since then, Ronan had tried to gauge the man’s strength and never managed to find its limits.

Bartholomew’s meeting had laid everyone’s fear bare. Only Kruger and a handful of others had agreed to take part. The rest refused outright, terrified at the thought of crossing Luke. To Ronan, it was obvious: any rebellion had to be run by people who didn’t really know Luke. Anyone who had crossed him once rarely dared pick up arms against him again.

During his time with Allison’s group, Ronan had worked hard to gather information, especially from Mason, his old blacksmith mentor. That was when he’d learned a grim truth: no one there really understood how dangerous Luke was. They only knew that he’d been near the peak of the rank even back then. But it wasn’t about levels or stats, it was his fighting style, his skill, his speed. In combat, Luke was like a ghost, a blur in your vision, and then, suddenly, his opponent was down, dead or unconscious.

Kruger, the most dangerous man of the tutorial, had fallen to Luke. He’d died in an ambush he himself had set to kill him. Luke had walked away without a flicker of satisfaction or remorse. Kruger had been just another obstacle to clear. That icy detachment ate at Ronan’s nerves.

Luke was terrifyingly versatile, hand-to-hand combat, bows, blades, even strange magic. He’d survived months in the capital on his own, moving through streets and tunnels with unsettling ease. He knew secret paths, hidden lairs where powerful creatures waited. Worst, or most impressive of all, he’d killed the Beast Lord alone. No sane man would face that creature without an army. Ronan had read the survivors’ report: a colossal serpent that spat acid, taken down by Luke “by luck,” or so he claimed. That version was impossible to believe.

Luke still carried whatever the monster had dropped upon dying. No one knew what it was, a weapon, a piece of gear, an artifact. Ronan preferred not to speculate. Stranger still was how Luke downplayed his feats, as if walking through hell was just part of his routine.

Now they waited in the shadows, watching the fortress from afar. The sentries on the tower were gone, Luke had already handled them. Only the gate guards remained, the last barrier before the alarm would be raised.

Ronan’s chest tightened with tension. He shifted closer to Allison, still crouched.

“Who is Luke, really?” he asked quietly.

The group glanced at him without taking their eyes off the fortress.

“What do you mean?” Allison replied.

Every eye turned toward him then, curious, wary.

“It’s more than obvious that guy isn’t normal,” Ronan muttered, eyes locked on the fortress. “He came into the tutorial with you. Is he your bodyguard? Some noble in disguise?”

“Seriously? You’re going to ask that now?” Evangeline’s tone dripped with irony, but her eyes stayed on the bowstring. “After all these days traveling together?”

Ronan swallowed the retort. At least now he knew where Luke was. Before, it had been impossible to track him; the man melted into the environment, moving without a sound. Even when he left, he slipped back unnoticed. But with him inside the fortress, Ronan finally felt free to give voice to his doubts.

“He’s just a regular person from Earth, like anyone else from the tutorial,” Allison said evenly.

Ronan almost laughed out loud but held it in, not wanting to give away their position.

Mason scratched the back of his neck, clearly uneasy. “The nobility in this world is vast. I don’t know them all, but… he doesn’t strike me as one of them.”

Everyone’s eyes slid back to Allison. She drew a slow breath. “Like I said, he’s just someone who landed here. None of us are the same anymore. This place forces you past your limits.”

Ronan knew that all too well. He’d killed people himself, but always for a greater cause, to defend the Safe Zone. There had always been a line.

“And you’re not afraid he might turn on you?” he pressed. “That he’ll swing that blade your way?”

“Weren’t you the one running around with Kruger?” Jack cut in, dry as dust. “If anyone was crazy, it was that guy.”

Ronan drew a slow breath, holding his temper. “Kruger was a rabid dog, but he was on Bartholomew’s leash.”

That was the problem. Kruger craved power but wanted order. Predictable. Luke wasn’t. Luke didn’t need luxury, companionship, or authority. If he decided everyone had to die to get back to Earth, Ronan feared he’d do it without hesitation. That was what he was trying to say without saying it outright. If all the major players fell and Luke ended up as the strongest left standing, Ronan knew he couldn’t stop him.

“You’re actually scared of him?” Eleanor asked, one eyebrow raised.

“Yeah, he’s scared of Cinderella,” Evangeline teased. “Want to rattle Luke? Ask him why they call him that.”

A few of them chuckled quietly. Ronan didn’t. He just stared at the horizon, tense, feeling the weight of it all. A raven swooped down in silence, landing on the branch beside them. The signal.

“That’s it,” Evangeline said.

Eleanor took aim, loosed an arrow, and dropped one of the guards with a clean shot to the head. Two more arrows followed, cutting down the last sentries at the gate. A muffled cry rose from a civilian at the nearby camp. The group broke from cover, moving toward the fortress.

“It’s all right,” Allison called as she stepped into the open.

Quinn appeared from the other side, sprinting to join them. But Ronan didn’t relax. The signal only meant one thing: Luke had already gone inside and cleared the fortress without being seen. The heavy groan of the gates echoed through the valley as they swung open. A crowd began pouring out.

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“Father!” a woman shouted, clutching a plant to her chest as she ran.

“Layla!” an older man cried back, rushing to meet her.

Families collided in relief amid the chaos, clutching weapons and glancing around with wary eyes.

“It’s all right, everyone. We’ve handled it,” Allison said, trying to calm the flood of people.

“Lady Rhiannon?” someone blurted in disbelief at the sight of her. “I thought you were dead…”

The crowd surged closer, spilling over each other’s words as they recounted what had happened, their voices thick with panic and awe. But Ronan drifted away from the stories, weaving through the mass of people, searching for one face in particular—and not finding it.

He sprinted toward the fortress. Every spot where he’d expected enemy soldiers stood empty. No bodies. No blood. Nothing.

He actually did it…

Ronan stopped and drew a deep breath. He didn’t want to believe it, but the truth pressed in all around him.

“I left one of them tied up inside,” said a voice behind him.

Ronan spun, heart hammering. Luke stood there, as if he’d materialized out of thin air. Not a sound had warned of his approach.

“Right…” Ronan forced his tone to stay neutral. “We need to question him, find out what happened.”

“There are some problems. I’ll brief the others,” Luke replied, already turning away.

Ronan watched him walk off. “Good thing you’re on our side,” he muttered under his breath.

Luke glanced back, puzzled.

“Nothing,” Ronan covered quickly.

When the man walked away, Ronan swallowed hard. Seventy people… dead… and Luke didn’t even seem to care.

***

“We should just go over there and kill that guy right now!” Artemis snapped, her voice sharp with frustration.

Luke rifled through his room, ignoring the outburst while everything else was still being sorted out.

“They stole our food!” Artemis said again, louder this time. She was genuinely furious.

“Seriously? That’s what you’re worried about?” Luke asked without looking up.

“Luke, we need priorities and focus, okay? Priorities! Food matters, man!”